Geek and Fandom Events in BC and Washington State
According the Critic Aggregator Metacritic, Microsoft was the highest rated video game publisher in 2011, beating out Nintendo and Sony respectively. The software giant had 90+ critic scores of Forza 4 and Gears of War. However, most of their lead comes from XBLA games such as Iron Brigade and Joe Danger: Special Edition. Rounding out the top five were Nintendo, Sony Entertainment, Electronic Arts, and Square Enix. You can check out the full report here.
Source LazyGamer.
Grads of the Vancouver Film School’s Game design program have posted their projects for their presentations to industry professionals. Among the projects were the facebook game Zombie-Kiri as well as more atmospheric pieces like Falling to Pieces and In Plain Sight. Links to all of the projects can be found here.
SourceVFS Blog.
Like all good things and the Superlative TV series before it, the Battlestar Galactica Exhibit is winding down at the Experience Music Project Museum in Seattle this on March 4, 2012. To commemorate the exhibit, the EMP museum is hosting Battlestar GalactiBash at Sky Church this Friday in conjunction with Geeks Who Drink and Geekgirlcon. Wear your Duty Blues and play a round of Pyramid with special guests including Tahmoh Penikett (Cpt. Karl ‘Helo’ Agathon), David Weddle (writer, producer), and Glenne Campbell (costume designer). Tickets can be purchased from Brown Paper Tickets.
Source: EMPmuseum.org.
The Straight has posted an interview with Michael Fergusson, CEO of Ayogo Games. Michael’s company focuses on “serious games” that are meant to promote health and fitness among their players. I ♥ Jellyfish is one such game, which Fergusson hopes release to researchers in March or April. You can read the interview here.
Source: Straight.com.
On Feb. 4th, over 13,000 players participated in a mass “play-in” of Half-life 2 to bring about the release or at least concrete details on Half-life 3. Over 50,000 signed a petition to participate in the event, but only 1/4 of that number showed up to play. I doubt that Gabe Newell and the rest of Valve Software are doing anything about this other than basking in the attention. Still, it’s a credit to Valve that so many people are playing their games that were released seven years ago.
Source: Kotaku.
A rumour about the new Halo game has surfaced due to the content of an employee’s resume. Brandon Layton has been working for 343 studios since July 2011, and his skillset specifically mentions the creation of automated bots for multiplayer games. These bots might just be serving as testing tools for the developers, but it would be nice to be able to practice some of those multiplayer maps without any interruption from 12-year-olds.
Source: GameBandits
Fandemonium publishing is releasing Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis Novels into e-book format. The publisher cites the changing nature of publishing and the current economic climate as the reason for the change. Fandemonium will also be offering Stargate SG-1: Transitions and Stargate Atlantis: Allegiance as print-on-demand titles for those who prefer their books battery free. More titles will be available as Fandemoniums print-on-demand facilities get online.
Source: GateWorld
Blizzard is taking Valve Software to court over one of the strangest copyright cases in the Video Games Industry. Defense of the Ancients 2 is a free-to-play sequel to the original Defense of the Ancients mod for Warcraft III. Valve is trying to secure a copyright for the name “Defense of the Ancients 2”. This is not unlike the situation with Valve’s Team Fortress 2, which was originally a mod for iD software’s Quake series. While Blizzard didn’t create DoTA, they claim that the name is associated with Warcraft, making that registration invalid. The fact that these two software giants are fighting over a game that no one can even pay for adds to the confusion. Whatever the outcome, it looks like some new precedents are going to be set here.
Source:Neoseeker
With a new Halo Game on the way this fall, McFarlane Toys is presenting details on their new product lines at the New York Toy Fair. Along with the prototypes of Master Chief and ODST Figures, McFarlane Toys is also releasinga 1/100 scale Micro Ops line. The smaller scale line will include figures, vehicles, and even locations from the Halo Universe. If 343 studios isn’t planning on releasing some miniature rules for these things, you can bet there’s going to be an homebrew set online pretty quick. You can get out the rest of the pics at the Halo Waypoint Site.
Source: Halo Waypoint
A teaser trailer for a new Halo fan film has surfaced on Youtube. Halo: Archetype is the story of the first genetically enhanced Spartan Soldier created to fight the Covenant. The live action and CGI blend seamlessly together for what looks to be a fun ride through the Halo Universe. The facebook page says that the full film is in preproduction. Whoever they get to work on that film, I hope they keep the voice-over from the trailer. There aren’t enough gravelly voices in fan films.
Source: Joystiq.
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